Biden: GOP filibuster threat 'embarrassing'

4/9/13 3:39 PM EDT

Vice President Joe Biden's frustration bordered on anger Tuesday as he scolded Republican senators for their "embarrassing" threats to block votes on gun legislation as the push that began after the Newtown shooting approached its make-or-break moment.

“The climax of this tragedy could be we're not even going to get a vote,” he warned. “Imagine how this makes us look.” The threats, he said, at another point in his remarks, are "an embarrassing thing to say."

Joined by Attorney General Eric Holder in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the vice president made a passionate plea, following up on President Obama's Monday speech in Connecticut.

"It's time for these guys to stand up and be counted," he said of members of Congress. “We have an obligation to try.”

As Biden spoke on the White House grounds, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Capitol Hill that he will hold votes Thursday on gun measures. Several Senate Republicans have said that they will not filibuster the votes, giving supporters of the legislation hope that lawmakers will get to vote, even if those votes aren’t in favor of tougher gun laws.

After four decades in Washington, Biden said he was hopeful that the filibuster threat would fall through. “I can't believe the Senate will actually do it – I know I keep being told by staff they’re going to do it,” he said. “I can't believe it. At end of the day, I can't believe that it will actually happen.”

The family members of the several victims of Newtown shooting joined Obama on his flight back to Washington from Connecticut on Monday so that they could lobby members of Congress to support new gun laws. They had a multi-hour breakfast with Biden on Tuesday and conveyed to him that they "really don't get" Washington's inaction.

Some of those relatives had asked Biden for advice on what to tell members of the Senate “as if they're going to speak to some ancient Aztecs, or someone who speaks a different language.”

Biden didn't say what he told them, but did say that the filibuster threats of some Senate Republicans are tough for him to comprehend. “Don’t they understand?” he asked. “Talking about filibustering. I mean, what are they doing?”

Biden and Holder both made sure to note that, in their views, the administration's gun proposals do not violate the Second Amendment. "Contrary to what a few have said, this plan … is consistent with the Second Amendment," the attorney general said.

The vice president added that the National Rifle Association -- which he mentioned by name -- had led a "campaign of disinformation to try to scare people," particularly the "black helicopter crowd," into thinking that the government would violate their privacy and their right to bear arms.

Biden tried to debunk the NRA's warnings, saying there's "no way that Uncle Sam can go find out whether you own a gun" and "swoop down with Special Forces folks and gather up every gun in America."